Already the owl staring down at the street in daylight in the doorway of the Platýz is striking enough, but three houses away, at Národní třída 37 it becomes undeniable: the doorways of Prague have been invaded by birds assimilating themselves to the urban way of life.

The pigeon, having built its nest on the stretched cables of the tramway’s wire, just avoiding the spikes to keep the pigeons away, tries to pretend as if it were just another of the many gags of Prague, but after a few minutes of photographing it nervously glances from side to side. I could not forgive myself for breaking such a promising evolutionary chain, so I go on my way.

“…The text was written on a German Perkeo typewriter, on this atomic machine, which filled Egon Bondy, the poet, with an immense fascination. I purchased the machine from my classmate Bureš, who had a shop in Nymburk, on the Great Ramp. I fell in love with it at first sight, but I had no three thousand crowns in old banknotes, so I kept returning to take pleasure in it, until I could buy it. It was a tiny machine, from around 1905, the roller could be tilted down, and I carried the closed up machine on two straps, like school books were carried under the Monarchy. I was amazed by this machine, I wrote on it merely for pleasure. The accents were missing, so that each typewritten page caused a smile and a laugh. I learned typing on it so brilliantly that I was able to write on it a night, too, as blind pianists play their instrument.”

Bohumil Hrabal: The Betrayal of Mirrors

The birthday dawns with drizzling rain, but in the morning the sun already comes out at random. I return to Libeň, just like I did twenty years ago. On the corner of the house that I was looking for then, in place of the scrap heap, now stands a little column, and the murals on the outer walls of Palmovka subway station, built on the site of the house, have since been described by many authors.

“Cornerstone of the Bohumil Hrabal Center”. In the background, the closed synagogue of Libeň.

“«Ya come to Libeň fer this? Fer Mr. Hrabal?» He swallows scratchily, in his parched mouth the saliva is milky gel. «I knew Mr. Hrabal, he loved beer. He paid for mine a lot, too.» Now it is sure that he wants money. «Ya speak Czech?» No, I nod reluctantly, I’d rather get rid of him, I am rummaging in my pocket, but I have no change, only banknotes, and we are poor people, too. «So ya don’t know what’s written here?», he points on the mural. No, not really. Tady stojím, čelo mám korunované deseti vráskami, tady stojím jako starý bernardýn a dívám se do veliké dálky, až do svého dĕtství… He eagerly starts to translate: «I stand here … crown of ten wrinkles on my forehead», he sweats over the effort. «I stand here, I look like … a St. Bernard … rescue dog … yeh, yeh, St. Bernard’s dog … I look far, very far, to when I was a child.» I’m pleased to recognize the text. I reach into my bag for a lukewarm Soproni beer, perhaps I will get rid of him with that, when I catch sight of the tears on his face. We catch each other’s eyes with Anna. We feel ashamed. «Thank you, Hungarians, that you came. To see Mr. Hrabal, my friend.» I feel obliged to shake his outstretched grimy hand.”

Mátyás Falvai: „hrabal_wall.jpg” Új Könyvpiac, September 2012

On this today, on the birthday anniversary, there is no event in Libeň, only the schools are celebrating Hrabal Day. On Monday night there will be a commemorative evening in the alternative theater of Libeň, and an exhibition entitled “Closely Observed Hrabal” will be opened, I will report on both of them. As a private remembrance, I sit in the “U Horkých Beer Sanatorium”, the last surviving house of the Jewish quarter of Libeň, the terminus of Hrabal’s famous Grand Slalom. I ask the experienced waitress, which was the favorite haunt of Hrabal, to publish from there this post.

Luciano Ramo: Attention, the German snake is taken! We must now tear his fangs, Brescia, F.lli Geroldi 1916

Otto von Kursell: Down with Bolshevism! Bolshevism brings war and destruction, famine and death, 1919

The death of the lie, ca. 1932-1933. Labels: Marxism, Plutocracy

Sergei Igumnov: Let us destroy the spies and diversants, the Trockist-Bukharinist agents of Fascism, 1937.(The confusing caption reflects the confusion of the official ideology. Although the serpent bears a Nazi monocle, but the Germans are at this time potential, and then actual Soviet allies. This is why they have to talk about other enemies in the caption: Trockists, Bukharinists, or even Fascists, as Nazis are still referred to in the post-Soviet world.)

I just came for a coffee to the Kazimir House in Budapest’s Kazinczy street, but on arriving upstairs, a merry international company greets me, sitting around the long table, with wine, duck liver paté, and live guitar music. “What’s going on?” I ask Andrea, surprised. “We’ve just finished our first tour of the Jewish Quarter, and as you can see, it was a complete success. The next one starts soon. Come along, if you have time.”

Last Sunday, the Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association began their sightseeing walks in the Jewish Quarter, as the 7th district of Budapest is traditionally called. On the following two Sundays, 30 March and 6 April, they will present the scenes and traditions of former Jewish life of the quarter, primarily for “outsiders”. Nevertheless, they also have something to show, even to the connoisseurs of the quarter. We also visited two old synagogues, hidden in two inner courtyards, where I had not yet been. The one at Dessewffy street 23 was converted from a stable by Jewish porters of the nearby Western Railway Station – perhaps this is the only synagogue where the two functions followed each other not in the reverse order. And the one at Vasvári Pál street 5 was designed in 1885 by Sándor Fellner, later a renowned architect of Budapest, for the Talmud Torah Society (Shas Chevra), founded for the strengthening of the orthodoxy.

The Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association will repeat the two walks in the next two Sundays: from 1 p.m. they will lead a general presentation of the quarter, and from 4 p.m. they will visit some hidden synagogues. On 30 March, the large walk will be in English and the synagogue tour in Hungarian, and on 6 April, the other way around. If you are in Budapest, come and join them! (Registration in e-mail: mazsike@gmail.com.)